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tensed; tensing
: to make tense
Synonyms
Example Sentences
Adjective
She was feeling pretty tense.
Why are you so tense?
We sat quietly for a few tense moments.
It was a tense meeting.
My calf muscles are really tense.
Verb
She tensed as he walked toward her.
He tensed up and missed the putt.
Noun
The sentence will read better if you change the tense of the verb.
You should avoid changing tense in the middle of a paragraph.
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Recent Examples on the Web
The Astrotwins, ELLE, 30 Nov. 2022
The atmosphere ahead of Tuesday’s match has indicated a more tense game this time around.
Sune Engel Rasmussen, WSJ, 29 Nov. 2022
Both had at-times tense relationships with Mary, Queen of Scots.
Meilan Solly, Smithsonian Magazine, 29 Nov. 2022
The unrest that has gripped Iran for the past two months has heightened what would already have been a tense encounter at the World Cup in Qatar on Tuesday between the two geopolitical foes.
Vivian Yee, New York Times, 29 Nov. 2022
The tense scene showed Angela introducing Michael and Billy via FaceTime as a way to get Michael to approve her trip to Canada.
Kelly Wynne, Peoplemag, 27 Nov. 2022
The issue became a cause célèbre for conservative activists, some of whom began showing up with guns to increasingly tense public meetings, Glidden said.
Mike Mcintire, BostonGlobe.com, 26 Nov. 2022
Ahead of Israel's Nov. 1 election, Ben-Gvir grabbed headlines for his anti-Palestinian speeches and stunts, including brandishing a pistol and encouraging police to open fire on Palestinian stone-throwers in a tense Jerusalem neighborhood.
Arkansas Online, 26 Nov. 2022
Aisha’s employer is Amy (Michelle Monaghan), a tense, competitive corporate executive who lives in a terrifyingly immaculate Upper East Side apartment with her restless, secretive husband Adam (Morgan Spector) and their daughter Rose (Rose Decker).
Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune, 25 Nov. 2022
Ben Taub, The New Yorker, 3 Oct. 2022
With each strike every muscle of Stas’s 6-foot-3, 240-pound body seems to tense.
Michael Schwirtz, New York Times, 16 Sep. 2022
But under stress her body would tense, and her mind would falter.
Louisa Thomas, The New Yorker, 11 Sep. 2022
Watching the towering 600-pound Yamamoto, who started teaching amateur sumo wrestlers in the United States 10 years ago, rise from a metal folding chair to demonstrate the throat-thrust technique on a student makes an onlooker’s muscles tense up.
Los Angeles Times, 9 Sep. 2022
Lamar has grown increasingly fixated on his own connection with his fans and detractors, and his verses tense up at nearly every mention of critics.
Sheldon Pearce, The New Yorker, 16 May 2022
The sheer speed of tow surfing, especially if there is any chop, which there usually is, causes even great surfers to tense up, and the same goes for the intense acceleration of dropping into a big wave on a gun.
William Finnegan, The New Yorker, 23 May 2022
Firstly, cold weather can cause muscles to tense up—that includes in the pelvic floor.
Philip Ellis, Men's Health, 19 Feb. 2022
Children can also be encouraged to tense their muscles (like a robot) and then relax them (like spaghetti noodles).
Victoria Forster, Forbes, 2 Nov. 2021
Roy S. Johnson | Rjohnson@al.com, al, 11 July 2022
The next entry of the wildly popular military shooter franchise provides players with tense, multiplayer battlefields and a campaign that follows the formation of a multinational Special Forces unit led by the fearless Capt. Price.
Mike Hume, Washington Post, 14 Nov. 2022
The tense, 4-hour, 57-minute game was the longest 0-0 affair in postseason history, surpassing the 2020 NL Wild Card Series opener between Atlanta and Cincinnati that went 13 innings.
Tom Withers, ajc, 8 Oct. 2022
The tense, deteriorating relationship between Rhaenyra and Alicent finally boiling over into actual violence with blood spilled in front of the entire court.
Erik Kain, Forbes, 3 Oct. 2022
As Egypt prepares to stage COP27, the geopolitical context that shapes all international diplomacy has gone from tense to precarious.
Marc Champion, Fortune, 23 Oct. 2022
To make virtual psychological contact with directors is to watch movies in the future tense.
Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 23 July 2022
Luckily, Allison Tolman agreed that the story had merit and a tense through line that made for a thrilling Short.
K.j. Yossman, Variety, 4 Aug. 2022
The mood is enhanced by the sudden appearance of the perfect continuous conditional tense, which considers not what was, or what had been, but what would have been, or might have been, in certain secluded corners of the narrator’s mind.
Merve Emre, The New Yorker, 25 July 2022
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Adjective
The tense configuration with stern Saturn and the moon could ding your reputation.
The Astrotwins, ELLE, 30 Nov. 2022
The atmosphere ahead of Tuesday’s match has indicated a more tense game this time around.
Sune Engel Rasmussen, WSJ, 29 Nov. 2022
Both had at-times tense relationships with Mary, Queen of Scots.
Meilan Solly, Smithsonian Magazine, 29 Nov. 2022
The unrest that has gripped Iran for the past two months has heightened what would already have been a tense encounter at the World Cup in Qatar on Tuesday between the two geopolitical foes.
Vivian Yee, New York Times, 29 Nov. 2022
The tense scene showed Angela introducing Michael and Billy via FaceTime as a way to get Michael to approve her trip to Canada.
Kelly Wynne, Peoplemag, 27 Nov. 2022
The issue became a cause célèbre for conservative activists, some of whom began showing up with guns to increasingly tense public meetings, Glidden said.
Mike Mcintire, BostonGlobe.com, 26 Nov. 2022
Ahead of Israel's Nov. 1 election, Ben-Gvir grabbed headlines for his anti-Palestinian speeches and stunts, including brandishing a pistol and encouraging police to open fire on Palestinian stone-throwers in a tense Jerusalem neighborhood.
Arkansas Online, 26 Nov. 2022
Aisha’s employer is Amy (Michelle Monaghan), a tense, competitive corporate executive who lives in a terrifyingly immaculate Upper East Side apartment with her restless, secretive husband Adam (Morgan Spector) and their daughter Rose (Rose Decker).
Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune, 25 Nov. 2022
Verb
Piccard instructed Verstraeten to hold out his thumb and tense his muscles as much as possible.
Ben Taub, The New Yorker, 3 Oct. 2022
With each strike every muscle of Stas’s 6-foot-3, 240-pound body seems to tense.
Michael Schwirtz, New York Times, 16 Sep. 2022
But under stress her body would tense, and her mind would falter.
Louisa Thomas, The New Yorker, 11 Sep. 2022
Watching the towering 600-pound Yamamoto, who started teaching amateur sumo wrestlers in the United States 10 years ago, rise from a metal folding chair to demonstrate the throat-thrust technique on a student makes an onlooker’s muscles tense up.
Los Angeles Times, 9 Sep. 2022
Lamar has grown increasingly fixated on his own connection with his fans and detractors, and his verses tense up at nearly every mention of critics.
Sheldon Pearce, The New Yorker, 16 May 2022
The sheer speed of tow surfing, especially if there is any chop, which there usually is, causes even great surfers to tense up, and the same goes for the intense acceleration of dropping into a big wave on a gun.
William Finnegan, The New Yorker, 23 May 2022
Firstly, cold weather can cause muscles to tense up—that includes in the pelvic floor.
Philip Ellis, Men's Health, 19 Feb. 2022
Children can also be encouraged to tense their muscles (like a robot) and then relax them (like spaghetti noodles).
Victoria Forster, Forbes, 2 Nov. 2021
Noun
Present tense intended because Kennis Croom is likely helping someone now.
Roy S. Johnson | Rjohnson@al.com, al, 11 July 2022
The next entry of the wildly popular military shooter franchise provides players with tense, multiplayer battlefields and a campaign that follows the formation of a multinational Special Forces unit led by the fearless Capt. Price.
Mike Hume, Washington Post, 14 Nov. 2022
The tense, 4-hour, 57-minute game was the longest 0-0 affair in postseason history, surpassing the 2020 NL Wild Card Series opener between Atlanta and Cincinnati that went 13 innings.
Tom Withers, ajc, 8 Oct. 2022
The tense, deteriorating relationship between Rhaenyra and Alicent finally boiling over into actual violence with blood spilled in front of the entire court.
Erik Kain, Forbes, 3 Oct. 2022
As Egypt prepares to stage COP27, the geopolitical context that shapes all international diplomacy has gone from tense to precarious.
Marc Champion, Fortune, 23 Oct. 2022
To make virtual psychological contact with directors is to watch movies in the future tense.
Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 23 July 2022
Luckily, Allison Tolman agreed that the story had merit and a tense through line that made for a thrilling Short.
K.j. Yossman, Variety, 4 Aug. 2022
The mood is enhanced by the sudden appearance of the perfect continuous conditional tense, which considers not what was, or what had been, but what would have been, or might have been, in certain secluded corners of the narrator’s mind.
Merve Emre, The New Yorker, 25 July 2022
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These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'tense.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Word History
Etymology
Adjective
borrowed from Latin tensus, from past participle of tendere "to extend outward, stretch, spread out" — more at tender entry 3
Verb
derivative of tense entry 1
Noun
Middle English tens, borrowed from Anglo-French tens, temps "time, moment, season, tense," going back to Latin tempus "period of time, season, tense" — more at tempo
First Known Use
Adjective
1668, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Verb
1676, in the meaning defined at transitive sense
Noun
14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Time Traveler
The first known use of tense was
in the 14th century
Phrases Containing tense
Articles Related to tense
Dictionary Entries Near tense
Cite this Entry
“Tense.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tense. Accessed 7 Dec. 2022.
Kids Definition
tense
1 of 3 noun
: a form of a verb used to show the past, present, or future time of the action or state it denotes
tense
3 of 3 verb
tensed; tensing
: to make or become tense
Medical Definition
tense
2 of 2 verb
tensed; tensing
: to become tense
More from Merriam-Webster on tense
Nglish: Translation of tense for Spanish Speakers
Britannica English: Translation of tense for Arabic Speakers
Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about tense
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